There were very high hopes for Patten going into this season. He had come from New England where he had helped the Patriots win three Super Bowls in four years. An intense individual, he stood out in practice as a true professional and he fashioned himself to be one of the team’s leaders both on and off the field. All seemed to be going well until they actually started playing games.

On a few occasions, it looked like he was starting to get untracked. He caught seven passes against Denver plus he had a nice TD grab negated by a questionable pass interference call. But in the next five games he caught just eight more passes total. He complained to the media about not getting enough passes thrown to him after the Giants game, an odd complaint to make right after he dropped a couple of passes in that contest. Two weeks ago against the Eagles he was shut out and he caught just one pass against Tampa Bay last week. Now his season fades to black.

When asked last year, Joe Gibbs said that the final chapter of Mark Brunell’s Redskins career had not yet been written. If you ask him the same question about Patten, he’ll probably say the same thing.

Norv Turner

There is a lot of talk about the current Redskins who played for the team under Norv Turner when he was in Washington. On the other side, however, there are two Raiders who were Redskins when Turner was here. One is tight end Zeron Flemister, who appeared in five games in 2000, Turner’s last in DC. The other is guard Brad Badger, who had a rather tumultuous year in the second of his three seasons on Washington.

Bader was drafted in 1997 in the fifth round out of Stanford. He started one game at right guard in his rookie year. Then, in 1998, Turner got the notion that the 6-4 Badger would be a good fit at the most critical position on the offensive line, left tackle. In a damn the skeptics and common sense move, Turner forced the square peg into the round hole. The Redskins started the season 0-7. Turner made his noted proclamation that “What we do works.” Well, it wasn’t working at the left tackle position, to say the least. Badger soon was moved back inside where he belonged. He is now Turner’s starting left guard.

Gregg Williams

Williams’ reputation for being a defensive genius is being sorely tested. For a year and a half here his defenses were able to compensate for the inability of the defensive line to generate a pass rush by throwing an array of blitzes at the opposition. The other teams have countered. “They are over-coaching the fact that they want the ball out fast,” said Williams, “which is okay, as long as [we] minimize any type of gain when the ball does come out fast.”

Perhaps Williams has a different definition of the ball coming out “fast” than I do, but I didn’t see Chris Simms doing a lot of three-step drops. Time after time, he was able to camp out in the pocket. Some of the 18.6 yards Tampa Bay made per completed pass came from running after the catch, but not many of them.

What I saw was blitzers running right into blockers. This isn’t new, it’s been going on all season to one degree or another. The opposing offensive coaches now know where the pass rush is coming from and they are very effective in countering it with their blocking schemes. It’s up to Williams to change the blitz packages around and make it so that the other guys don’t know what’s coming.

Before I go back into my hole to hide til next season, I just wanted to say it was nice for a month or two to actually believe that we might have a team this year, and at least we beat Dallas and Phili for a change, but its over now!

How the hell can you lose to the Oakland FADERs…

Congrats to NORV, wish you could have won the close games here when you were our coach!

marty_mcdonnell@hotmail.com - Nov 21, 2005 at 2:59 PM

The Skins are not as good as everyone thinks. I say this being a diehard Skins fan for my entire life. They desparately need a more mobile, more accurate, & stronger QB. Brunell’s best days are behind him. There are not enough threats on offense, Moss, Cooley & Portis can’t carry this team. The defense, well what can you say, not pressure up the middle and a weak secondary is a recipe for disaster. Keeping LaVarr on a short leash is not helping matters either. As ineffective as the D has been it’s about time to let him loose and see what he can do.